What You Need to Know About Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Luc Besson's comic book adaptation.

By
Alex Welch

Earlier this week, I was invited to sit in the editing bay with writer and director Luc Besson to see some new, never-before-seen footage from his latest film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, based on the popular Valerian and Laureline graphic novel series. The footage included the film’s first teaser trailer (which will be released publicly next Thursday, Nov 10th), a reshowing of the 6-minute long San Diego Comic-Con footage from earlier this year, a behind-the-scenes reel, and a Besson-guided step-by-step showing of what it’s been like creating just one of the many, many visual effects-heavy moments in the film, from its original storyboard to an actual completed shot.

After being introduced to Besson and taking a small, brief walk through Wildfire Studios in Los Angeles, where the film’s editing is being done, Besson and I went into the film’s editing room. Sitting in front of a small screen, Besson gave me some background information regarding what I was about to see and then, as the lights dimmed down, I was shown the upcoming teaser trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

The film stars Dane Dehaan as Valerian and Cara Delevingne as Laureline, special operatives officials for the human territories charged with keeping peace throughout the universe, and follows the duo when they’re assigned with investigating a powerful, galactic empire. All of this detail might seem superfluous in preparation for the teaser trailer though, which as Besson warned me before I was shown it, doesn’t offer much in terms of story or plot information as much as it aims to offer an authentic taste of what the tone and look of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets will be.

That can’t have been easy either, since I can safely say that Valerian really looks nothing like any other film of its genre. If I had to describe it, I’d probably say it’s like Guardians of the Galaxy on steroids, created with Besson’s signature style and technique that at points may seem reminiscent of The Fifth Element, but looks and feels different than anything else he’s done before. Believe it or not, even all of that doesn’t feel like it does enough to sum up all of what the film has to offer, and as the lucky attendees who saw the Valerian SDCC panel this summer are already aware, Valerian appears to be one of the largest summer blockbusters of next year - boasting visual effects that not only back up that ambition, but seem to be pushing the envelope in ways similar to how Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book did earlier this year.

While 99% of the characters won’t be mo-cap animals by any means, the amount of detail and visual flair involved in the digital worlds that Besson has created here is nothing short of awe-inspiring. This includes Big Market, a shopping center in the film that’s the largest of its kind in the universe and contains over one million stores, making it a huge tourist attraction. You can see a small example of what Big Market looks like in the IGN exclusive image here, even if it doesn’t quite match the scale of the shopping center itself. However, what makes Big Market even more exciting (and difficult) to pull off visually, along with its multiple levels, is that it exists in an alternate dimension, requiring special goggles for visitors to see it and interact with it. In order to buy anything from Big Market too, visitors must provide their own DNA codes, or else they will be unable to bring their goods back into their own dimension.

Valerian's Big Market.

One of the more unique details about Big Market that I was shown, and that was specifically pointed out by Besson himself, was one of the portals into it, which welcomed its visitors by using the language of multiple different alien races, creating a sense of accepted unity throughout the film’s universe. Indeed, the teaser trailer offers looks at countless different alien species, all of whom look equally real, that it was hard to tell the difference between those that were created purely with CGI as background details, and those that will receive more one-on-one screen time.

In addition, Besson shared some specific, story-related details regarding the film’s Big Market sequence with me, including one moment that will see Dane DeHaan’s Valerian having multiple parts of his body in different dimensions simultaneously, all while trying to transfer a very specific product out of Big Market. It was at the same time, that Besson took the opportunity to show me the labored process of creating the visual effects sequences in the film, which gave me an even greater appreciation for the detail and time being put into each frame of Valerian.

When I spoke with him, Besson confirmed that around 200 of the visual effects shots in the film had been approved so far, which might seem like a lot, but is quickly dwarfed when you learn that there are just a mere 2,700 more to go; a fact the filmmaker revealed with a very fitting, sarcastic sigh.

Then, after I was shown the teaser trailer, Besson asked if I’d be interested in seeing the 6 minutes of footage from SDCC, so I could not only get another hearty taste of what to expect from Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and also so I could see the amount of progress they’ve made, visually, with the film just since what they showed in July. I told him, leaving the editing room a few minutes later, that some of the visuals I saw in the unfinished footage were still better than what I’ve seen in completed blockbusters released this year even. In case you were wondering, a few days later and I still stand by that statement as well.

In a world where space operas are starting to make a comeback now, Valerian stands out as a promising new addition to the sci-fi genre. Not only is it a gloriously colorful film, but the humor and chemistry between DeHaan as Valerian and Delevingne as Laureline makes it seem like they could be one of next year’s breakout on screen duos, evidenced by a couple moments of flirtatious, fun banter between the two in the trailer.

You’ll see what I mean of course when the teaser is released next Thursday, but Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is shaping up to be Besson’s most ambitious film to date, and one of the more unique and grand blockbusters of 207. So much so that as the lights in the editing bay came back on, the teaser trailer concluded, and I heard Besson humbly mumble, “That’s it,” my only response was to laugh in disbelief.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets will be released in theatres on July 21, 2017.